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Sunday, 16 January 2011

Wedding Planning

After a lot of discussion yesterday, the fiance and I have decided to go ahead and get married this summer. As we are both teachers we get a lovely six weeks off for summer which makes it the perfect time. The plan is to get married in the first week and then go on a three week honeymoon.

The honeymoon plans are the easiest thing as we've already decided what we want to do - American road trip. I've never actually been to America (we both live in the UK) and we wanted something a bit adventurous, not a beach package holiday. Something where we can decide what we do and when we do it. The plan is to fly to Florida and work our way along the southern States doing all of the stereotypical tourist things we can. American friends, I will be bugging you for information at some point in the future!

The wedding is more tricky. The sheer amount of things to organise and the cost is a bit daunting. We are lucky in that our local registry office is beautiful (see picture) and we've agreed to get married there. I'm going to ring on Monday and officially book the date. We're hoping to hire a lovely Italian restaurant near us for the reception. I'm going to start wedding dress shopping in a few weeks. I know I want a knee-length wedding dress with straps, which will probably be quite difficult to find.

We both want our wedding to be quite relaxed and low-key. I want people to see it as a nice day out rather than as a big thing.

24 comments:

It's really late but congratulations on your engagement and good luck with all the planning Sam!RE- Thanks for your idea on Coverlicious. That would work really well but as I have so much going on at the moment, I've decided I don't want to commit myself to a particular day. Maybe in the future though :)

If you end up in Texas, you'll have to let me know! My family and I would be delighted to show you around San Antonio. :) Depending on when you are here, since there's part of the summer we're planning to be in Wisconsin...

Congrats! My husband and I moved to Greenville, SC 4 years ago and love the coastal area between Cape Canaveral (FL) and Charleston (SC). Cape Canaveral has the Kennedy Space Center, St. Augustine has a lot of history and great restaurants, Savannah and Charleston are both so charming and historic and dare I say romantic! Even north of there, upwards into the outer banks of NC is just beautiful, although the roads are meandering and far from the interstate, which will matter if you're road tripping.

Inland from there are the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway, which are stunning and quite a bit cooler than the sultry coast. Asheville, NC is in that region and is one of my favorite places.

Please feel free to contact me for ideas! I don't know the area completely yet but have seen a fair bit, and could also recommend some great independent bookstores.

Sounds like a lovely plan! My hub and I got married in Canada where we live, and then took an American road trip down the East Coast. It was an adventure and loads of fun. Good luck with all the arrangements :)

Aww wow! That looks stunning. And six weeks off is a fantastic America road trip time. I'd LOVE to do that and I think it sounds so much more rewarding, and much more fun, that sitting on a beach for a couple of weeks. How exciting! Can't wait to see what you guys plan!

All i've done so far is got the venue booked and found a pattern for my dress...im totally terrible at organising things!!i wouldn't worry,i reckon people stress about wedding planning faaaaar more than is needed :-) if u have your venue then you're at least half way there :-)

Breanna, looking forward to all the tips! I want to see touristy things but also maybe some places off the beaten track.

Trish, glad you enjoyed your honeymoon, it makes me more excited for mine! An adventure is exactly what we want as we have a rigid routine in everyday life.

Laura, belated congrats on the wedding! I'm taking my to-do list one step at a time. First up - venues. Second up - dress. Everything else can come a bit later.

Leslie, Texas is high up on both our lists as we imagine it is really different from London. Italian is yummy and we sort of know the people that run it as we go there so much, so it should be great.

Bethany, I feel the same way about beach holidays. They're nice but after a few days I get bored. We've decided to go on a big adventure before we become boring and settle down with a mortgage/children!

Collect dreams, you are definitely further on with me. When I ring my venue they are constantly engaged so I'm no nearer to booking. I'm looking forward to the dress shopping though, that should be fun!

I have to agree with everyone else about San Antonio. There isn't that much to do, but the food is great. :)

Too bad you aren't coming to California! I'd totally show you guys around (but yknow, who would want a 21 year old tag-along on a honeymoon :P). Plus... So. Cal has DISNEYLAND. :O Okay, not as great as Disney world, if you go to Fl, but still. :P

Wonderful, wonderful! I hope you have a great wedding and that it makes your life even better than what it is! :) I love the road-trip idea,I hope you visit literary landmarks along the way (like Connie at the BlueBookCase). Wishing fun and joy!

Okay - so for places to visit in the South: It depends on where in Florida you're flying into - if you fly into Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, then you definitely want to hit both of those cities, specifically the little Havana section in Miami. I live in North Florida so if you fly into Jacksonville International, I highly recommend St. Augustine in Florida about an hour and a half away from Jacksonville, and Savannah in Georgia, which is about two hours from Jacksonville. Savannah is the town that is featured in the non-fiction quirky book by John Berendt Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It's a really eccentric town and absolutely incredibly!

Also, if you're headed all around the south only, then you may also want to drive up to Atlanta. (Six hours from Jacksonville, Florida).